While my family was preparing for a nice get-together back home (sorry I couldn’t make it, I’ll be there in August!), I spent my Saturday putting together my new bookcase from Ikea and preparing for a special night out on the town. I had it all planned out. A nice, fun dinner at the Bubba Gump Shrimp co., take in a movie (the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the local IMAX), and then perhaps, but only if I got reeeeeallly lucky, some fireworks while experiencing the ferris wheel at Navy Pier. A little cheesy, yes, but fun nevertheless. And I’ve lived in/around Chicago for over three years now and only been to Navy Pier once or twice before.

So we got to the restaurant only to find that it was going to be a 45 minute wait. And even though we were two hours early, that was still cutting it close. My hopes fell, along with the darkening clouds indicative of a sure-fire rain shower coming our way. We found another place just in time, but the wait there turned out to be almost as long. I was getting pretty down until the Anheuser-Busch promotion guy came over and offered some free beer (apologies to my cousin, but I don’t think she minds anymore). Well dinner went fine and we made it out just in time for the movie. It was spectacular. The big IMAX screen was a little imposing…not used to seeing movies 40,000 times the size of a regular television set…but still good.

And then came the finishing touch. The ferris wheel. Of course, once we got tickets I ran like a little kid to go get an icee while others waited in line. Had it not been for a couple other people that managed to time it perfectly and actually go back to the end of the line one time, it would not have worked out nearly as well. We wanted to be on the ferris wheel at the same time the fireworks started. 7.5 minutes is how long it takes to go around once and we hard boarded just seconds before they were scheduled to start. As the ferris wheel passed its first 1/4 turn, I was worried that they wouldn’t start, despite it being time. It had to work out, it had to. Then, just as we were nearing perhaps 3/8 of the way around, the first fireworks rocketed into the sky. Ah, perfection. There was only one thing left to do. As the ferris wheel reached the apex, I reached into my pocket and wrapped my fingers around a small package, lifting it out delicately and deftly. I then presented to her…a simple lollipop that she had seen earlier and I had picked up when I went back to get my icee. ;)

What a great night.